2. ARCHAIC STATE OF COASTAL PERU MOCHE

3. ARCHAEOLOGY Capital at Cero Blanco Pyramid Huaca del Sol; Adobe structure Most of city and pyramid platform destroyed by hydraulic mining activities of Spanish to look for burial treasures. Archaeological deposits of Moche occupation reach depths of 7 meters

4. Huaca del la Luna, polychrome murals

6. Nearby are remnant agricultural fields reflecting corporate management: regular and standardized field plots of uniform size. Agricultural plots were likely worked by a peasant class. What is known about Moche life and death comes artifacts recovered from burials that have escaped looting.

8. Burials usually contain textiles and ceramics. On occasion sacrificed llamas were interred with deceased.

11. FORTRESSES Moche fortress at Casma Valley underscores militaristic character of Moche society. Many hilltop fortresses. Construction techniques include stone and mass produced adobe

12. Moche hilltop fortress

13. ICONOGRAPHY Highly symbolic, and standardized. Artistic motifs reify the hierarchical order of society. Multiple media (survives mainly in ceramics). Evolution of artistic styles reduces to two dozen themes by AD 300—these focus on religious ideology.

14. Tule boats Weaving

15. War in 3D pottery War and sacrifice from painted pottery

16. IDEOLOGICAL UNDERPINNINGS Most meanings are lost to us today but some are recognizable: Origin myths, conflicts between good and evil, explanations for natural phenomena, burial rites and protocols, and most especially one- on-one combat. The combat scenes depicted on pottery reveal both ritual and cosmology.

17. COMBINED ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA REVEAL: Stratified society: Kurka (ruling) class and commoner/peasant class Ritualized behavior of ruling class elites/nobility. Blood sacrifice rituals were uncommon but powerful expressions for maintaining natures’ productivity.

18. Moche political centralization suggests control over large region but administration was uneven and may represent indirect rule along the coast. Moche mariners colonized several islands and contacted cultures along the coast. Artistic motifs of Moche origin influence Nazca peoples to the south around AD 600.